


Keep You Safe

by SnowyCrocus



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Elsa feels guilty, Ice Bros - Freeform, Kristoff comforts Elsa, like always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22618267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyCrocus/pseuds/SnowyCrocus
Summary: Kristoff chases after Elsa and Anna, catching up just in time to see Elsa cast Anna away in an ice canoe. He’s worried for Anna’s safety at first, but Kristoff realizes that maybe Anna isn’t the one he needs to care for after all.
Relationships: Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	Keep You Safe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eliimg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliimg/gifts).



Kristoff’s heart seemed to race in time to Sven’s hoofbeats, his hands trembling slightly from nerves at the thought of not being able to find Anna.

 _The princess departed with the Queen – they are long gone._ Yelena’s gravelly voice echoed in his mind. _You can come with us, if you want._

But he _didn’t_ want. All he wanted was to find Anna – to find Anna and scoop her up and secure her to Sven so that she couldn’t run off, couldn’t run after trouble, after her sister, and _Elsa -!_

 _Ugh, Elsa!_ Kristoff’s hands fisted in Sven’s reins. Ever since Elsa had admitted to hearing this…this _voice_ , she had been uncharacteristically restless and fearless – _stupidly_ fearless. And of course Anna, like always, had to go and chase after her. _As if she weren’t enough trouble already on her own._

Kristoff’s heart sank. _Why hadn’t she found him before she left? Why didn’t she ask him to come with them?_

It _hurt._

But he loved Anna – loved her with everything he had. So while he didn’t know every little detail, he did understand that Anna and Elsa had an especially close, though delicate relationship after their solitary pasts, and he knew that the best way to show his love was to allow Anna to be what she needed to be for her sister.

So he would _try_ not to be mad. But he had every right to go after her – to protect her, in a way that even Elsa, with powers, could not.

“C’mon, Sven!” He urged his friend to go faster. What if he got there too late and something happened to her? To _both_ of the girls, even?

He loved Anna, sure, but he loved Elsa in his own way, too. He couldn’t let something happen to either one of them, reckless and selfless as they both could be.

They needed him, and he needed them.

With that thought, he clicked his tongue once more to Sven and held on tight.

* * *

He was starting to grow worried.

While the sun had once been overhead, judging from the brightness barely shining through the mist, now the sky was just a hazy grey that heralded nothing good. Hours must have passed, and with no sign of either of the girls.

Sven had begun panting, his steps faltering and slowing, and Kristoff despaired as he knew that soon they would need to stop and rest.

He was thankful that they had the wind at their back, at least, helping them forward.

…wait.

Now that he thought about it, the wind had grown stronger recently, blasting against his back almost like a push.

Kristoff whipped his head around – could it be?

Sure enough, autumn leaves of varying shades fluttered in the strong breeze around them. Feeling an itch, Kristoff even pulled one out of his hair. “Gale?”

The gust fluttered, pulsating against Kristoff’s face and the leaves swirled in an unnatural pattern.

Kristoff smiled with relief at the familiar spirit, before realizing that its help couldn’t mean anything good.

_Gale needs my help. The girls are in trouble!_

His heart began to race once more.

“Gale, are we close!?” The wind flapped and flickered against his back. “Gimme a bigger push! C’mon!”

Sven brayed as a sudden squall hit him in the back with force, pushing him forwards like a blast so that he barely had to move his legs.

Kristoff held back a scream as he and Sven hurtled through the forest and approached a hill.

Abruptly, the burst of wind behind them faded, dropping them off at the top. Kristoff’s heart fluttered like the flag he saw off in the distance.

 _A flag?!_ He was in the middle of the forest!

Kristoff jumped off of Sven and ran the rest of the way to the crest of the hill where the flag was coming from – he had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

_….either, Anna.”_

The faint words were like a whisper in Kristoff’s ear, said as softly as they were, but he could never miss the sound of ice forming.

Kristoff froze when he reached his destination, spotting a decimated ship half on its side, wood splintered and flag flying.

But his gaze was quickly torn away by the source of words he had heard – there, just ahead of him, stood Elsa and Anna in a tender embrace, Olaf snuggled by their legs.

Kristoff breathed out in relief – they were alright! – until his palms grew clammy as he heard the tinkling of ice, watched as it grew out of nowhere, climbing across the grass and forming a curved shape.

He went to call out but his voice caught in his throat. The ice crackled, creating a mirror-smooth surface over the grass and billowing out into a boat that captured both Anna and Olaf inside.

Elsa stepped back, arms clutched around her middle in a familiar posture, and stamped one foot against the ice, hurtling Anna and Olaf down the hill, in two seconds farther away than Kristoff could even see.

“Elsaaaaa!” Anna’s voice echoed but grew weaker immediately as she disappeared.

“NO!” Kristoff breathed out, hurtling himself towards Elsa.

 _Damn_ her! Just one little tap of her foot, so subtle and delicate, and his whole world was taken from him, plunging down a hill and possibly gone forever.

* * *

She didn’t seem to notice him coming.

He felt like he was stomping, desperate to get to Elsa as fast as he could. He was sure he was panting, his breaths coming harsh and fast, yet she gave absolutely no sign that she was aware she was not alone.

“ELSA!” He screamed upon reaching her. He felt he was boiling with fury – what the hell had she done with Anna?

Elsa stepped back with a gasp, her eyes wide in fear as she took in that it was Kristoff that had startled her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked thickly, her voice tremulous and weak. Her arms remained tightly around her middle. Kristoff noticed her eyes were red and glassy with unshed tears, her brows drawn and breath stuttering.

He _hated_ when she looked like that. It gave him flashbacks to when they met at the ice palace, and god knows he didn’t want her feeling like that ever again.

That posture, arms clenched around herself, meant that she needed a hug, but she wouldn’t actually _let_ him hug her. (He had tried before, and she had stepped away). She looked drained and frail, sad and conflicted, and suddenly Kristoff realized that maybe Elsa needed to be looked after more than Anna did (wherever she had gone).

“I came to find you two,” he answered her, his voice soft and gentle this time. He slowly brought his hands up to her elbows on either side, and she let him. He slid his palms along her upper arms soothingly. “And I’m glad I did, though it looks like I was too late to prevent you from sending your sister away…?”

He wants to yell, he wants answers, but deep down he knows that Elsa doesn’t typically do things without thinking, especially when those things involve Anna. Besides, he’s not likely to get anywhere by yelling when Elsa is like this: a delicate, trembling mess of easily-shattered ice.

Elsa makes a choking sound at his unasked question, her eyes squinting closed to try to prevent the tears from falling. It doesn’t help, and the tear cascades halfway down her cheek before freezing like a beautiful diamond to her skin.

“I’m sorry,” she manages, her voice scratchy and wet. “I did what I had to to protect her.” She looks up at him, her arms still clenched around her but her gaze, though teary, is firm and confident. “For real this time.”

“Alright.” He guides her down so that their backs are pressed up against the rock. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

* * *

The story doesn’t take long to tell.

Kristoff can’t believe that there, just in front of him, is the ship where the late King and Queen of Arendelle met their demise. Anna and Elsa’s mother and father.

It takes a couple tries for Elsa to talk about her and Anna’s discovery – how they watched their parents clutch each other- their last touch; how they heard their parent’s last words – both a plea for help and a declaration of love.

At that point, Elsa unclenches her hands from her sides to gaze at them angrily, as if to blame them for her parents’ outcome. She doesn’t need to say anything for him to know that she feels that she is to blame for their deaths – this is Elsa, after all, - and he interrupts her to lay his broad palm across her freezing hands.

“It’s not your fault,” he tells her. “They’re responsible for their own choices.”

She looks up at him with tired yet relieved eyes. “That’s what Anna said.”

She explains how she knows she has to continue the journey, to find this Ahtohallan her parents sought, as well as the fifth spirit.

“I can _feel_ it,” she tells him, and he doesn’t think he’s ever heard her speak with so much conviction.

* * *

But it had to be just her – no one else.

“Searching for Ahtohallan _killed_ mother and father,” Elsa explained to him, her voice urgent as if she _needed_ him to understand. “I can… _almost_ accept that they did this on their own – I didn’t know. But now I _do_ know- and I won’t let another person take their life to find the source. _Especially_ not Anna.”

Something loosens inside Kristoff’s chest. He is relieved- Elsa hadn’t sent Anna away to danger- the icy path would lead her and Olaf right back to the Northuldra camp, where they could look after her. Where Kristoff would return for her.

“You’re right,” he decides, prying the frozen tear off of Elsa’s cheek. Her eyes widen and she looks at him in shock – though whether from the removal of the tear or his admission he’s not sure.

“This is something only you can do. This voice is calling to you, from a place that no one else can go.”

Elsa bites her bottom lip, her eyes questioning. “You think I did the right thing by sending her away?”

“She’s not gonna be happy about it,” he admits, and her gaze falls to her feet. “But we both know Anna. How she’s been following you this whole time. She would’ve insisted on coming, and either she would’ve been hurt – or worse- and you wouldn’t be able to find this Ahto….”

“Ahtohallan,” Elsa fills in, with a gentle smile across her lips. “I don’t mind facing Anna’s fury as long as she’s safe.”

“Agreed.” He rubs her shoulder, which has now warmed up a bit. “You ready for this?”

“No.” She tries to play off her nervousness with a laugh but it falls short. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I have faith in you,” Kristoff tells her. “And so does Anna, whether she’s there with you or not.”

Before he can think about it, he wraps her in a hug. She doesn’t pull away. He’s not sure if he’s imagining it, but he thinks he can feel the buzz of magic around her. She smells like snow and the forest and though she feels delicate and small in his arms, he feels her coiled and ready for her adventure.

“You got this,” he tells her as he pulls away and heads towards Sven. “Just be careful out there.”

She stands, no longer supported by the rock, and flashes him her lopsided grin. Hesitant, but there.

“I will.”


End file.
